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Rape: The Hidden Weapon Against Women in War-Torn Northern Uganda

The Monitor (Kampala)
ANALYSIS
November 10, 2004
Posted to the web November 9, 2004

By Samuel Olara
Kampala
When we talk of weapons used in war, little or no thought is given to the fact
that rape is another weapon used during conflict. Rape as a weapon of war is
being used in many countries worldwide to target defenseless people, usually
women and children and Northern Uganda is no exception. Rape as a weapon of war
violates the Geneva Conventions and other international statutory legislation;
identifying rape as a war crime.
The situation in Northern Uganda can only be described as a pattern of behavior
in which the strong can commit crimes against the weak with impunity. There is
no doubt that in the nearly 20 years of conflict, rape against women (and young
girls) has been used as a weapon by the warring parties. Rape has also been
used to humiliate and dehumanize men in Northern Uganda.
"Gungu Tek" for instance, as it became known, was a phrase that had never been
used against men, in the entire history of Acholi, until the NRA set foot onto
Acholi sub-region. But for the purpose of this discussion, I will confine
myself to discussing rape as weapon against women and young girls; "children".
One often wonders why such cruel acts are inflicted on defenseless women and
children. Those who rape women and children do it because it is easier to
attack a defenseless person than it is to attack one who has the means to
defend him or herself. The age of these women has never been of concern to the
perpetrators. In most cases, the act is perpetuated in the presence of the
other family members, and it could well be the mother and daughter being rape
at the same time. An act so brutal, inhumane, sadistic, criminal and
unfortunate, to say the least. Infact, rape is one the defining characteristics
of the conflict in Northern Uganda that has not received any attention
whatsoever.
The danger with using rape as a weapon is that not only are the women being
humiliated, hurt, and traumatized, but they may also be receiving a death
sentence in this age of HIV/AIDS. There has been an increase in reported cases
of HIV/AIDS infected women and children in Northern Uganda. Reports about the
widespread infection of AIDS within and around the Internally Displaced
Person's camp are widely known.
Reports that most of the UPDF soldiers that claim to be guarding these camps
are HIV positive and many of the LRA returnees, are HIV positive is also widely
known. With nearly 2 million people forcefully driven from their homes,
spreading the disease across the entire region and putting young people at risk
in squalid refugee camps where sexual violence is endemic, has not been hard to
achieve.
Protocol 1 to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, addressing civilian and/or military
authorities who involve themselves in cases of international armed conflicts,
as well as colonial domination and racist regimes, states women "shall be
protected in particular against rape, forced prostitution, and any other form
of indecent assault."
General Recommendation No.19 of the UN Committee on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination (CEDAW), asserts "gender-based violence... is...
violence that is directed against a woman because she is a woman or [because
violence] affects women disproportionately..." Therefore, women who experience
infringement upon their human rights due to armed conflict are not under an
equal protection of the law.
Article 27 of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, in response to the aggressive
reprisal upon women during World War II, states, "Women shall be especially
protected against any attack on their honor, in particular against rape,
enforced prostitution, or any form of indecent assault." It further denounces
these actions based upon "nationality, race, religious beliefs, age, marital
status or social condition."
The Jurisprudence of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda recognizes
rape and other forms of sexual violence by combatants in the conduct of armed
conflict as war crimes. When rape and sexual violence are committed as part of
a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population,
they are considered crimes against humanity and in some cases may constitute an
element of genocide.
During the Rwanda genocide, rape as a war crime received extensive
international media coverage. Despite initial reports of 250,000 women being
sexually assaulted, evidence later suggested the total number was closer to
one-fifth of that.
In Bosnia, where the European Community Investigative Mission concluded there
were some 20,000 victims, reports of systematic rape by the Serbs first made
international headlines one year into the war, and remained a major news focus
for the remaining three years of the conflict. It was only after the Bosnia
war, at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The
Hague in 1997, that rape was first prosecuted as a crime against humanity. A
year later, at the Rwanda tribunal, rape was found to be a form of genocide.
Whether during war or peace, warring parties, civilians, and peacekeepers who
force women to have sex against their will or who engage in sexual acts with
minors should be treated as criminals and punished accordingly. A Government
that does not protect such vulnerable citizens and fails to punish its soldiers
after convincing evidence of rape has been brought forward should face
condemnation and sanctions. That includes, but is not limited to, international
sanctions against that particular government.
Sexual violence against women and girls in conflict situations leads not only
to terrible physical suffering, but mental health problems too. As a result
families and communities can be affected over generations. There are tens of
thousands of women and children who have been raped and subsequently infected
(sentenced to death); with HIV/AIDS, forcibly impregnated or so badly damaged
internally that they will never be able to have children, and who are so
psychologically traumatized that they may never recover.
While international law has readily responded to the harm sustained by men in
combat, it has problems with invoking state responsibility in cases of violence
against women in times of war. Both the UPDF and LRA have been willing to
manipulate vulnerability of women to justify military action against their
sovereignty. For example, atrocities against women and children in Northern
Uganda are highlighted to justify military responses.
However, the adversities they have suffered during the 18 years of war, has
often gone un-remedied while the perpetrators have gone on to gain higher
offices of responsibilities, brown envelops, bungalows and 24 hour security.
The Ugandan government and the international community have a duty to stand up
for the women and children of Northern Uganda, and the NRM government and the
LRA should recognise their obligation to end the continued suffering through
dialogue. In an effort to cap the spread HIV/AIDS in Northern Uganda, the
government should embark on the immediate dismantling of all concentration
camps (they are death-traps in their aspects) and improve the health services
in the region, in order to allow those women and children already infected to
make some sense of their lives; in the effort to better their communities in
the years that they have left.
The writer is a Human rights advocate resident in the UK.
olarasamuel@hotmail.com

   

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